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4. Visualizing a Teaching: Sermon Scenes in Kucha


 
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1. Title Title of document 4. Visualizing a Teaching: Sermon Scenes in Kucha - Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
 
2. Creator Author's name, affiliation, country Monika Zin; Leipzig University; Germany
 
3. Subject Discipline(s) Buddhist Studies
 
4. Subject Keyword(s) Indology; Indian Buddhism; religious images; South Asian religion; Jain; religious painting; Indian art; Buddha and image; Buddhist text;
 
5. Subject Subject classification Indian Buddhism; Art History
 
6. Description Abstract Moving from text to art, this chapter seeks to explore the role of images and imagery through a study of one of the most interesting early Buddhist artistic sites. Nowhere else in the Buddhist world are so many narratives illustrated as in the cave temples in Kucha. Jātakas, conversion stories, venerations of the Buddha(s), praṇidhis, scenes from the Buddha’s life, particularly from the parinirvāṇa cycle, and Maitreya preaching in Tuṣita heaven – we find as many as 100 narrative representations in a single cave. The settings of depictions located indoors are preset, and they reoccur in the settled iconography.

The jātakas are usually reduced to the single most dramatic moment of action. This is often also the case for scenes including the Buddha, but not for all. The sophisticated pictorial conventions make it possible to represent complex contents, even when the manner of depiction is very minimalistic. One pictorial unit can incorporate portrayals of the same person in different rebirths, or an illustration of the very narrative about which the Buddha, depicted in the same scene, is preaching. These considerations shed light on how images of narratives were being used at this key site, with wider implications for our study of Buddhist narrative art.














 
7. Publisher Organizing agency, location Equinox Publishing Ltd
 
8. Contributor Sponsor(s)
 
9. Date (YYYY-MM-DD) 22-Apr-2022
 
10. Type Status & genre Peer-reviewed Article
 
11. Type Type
 
12. Format File format PDF
 
13. Identifier Uniform Resource Identifier https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/books/article/view/39990
 
14. Identifier Digital Object Identifier 10.1558/equinox.39990
 
15. Source Journal/conference title; vol., no. (year) Equinox eBooks Publishing; Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
 
16. Language English=en en
 
18. Coverage Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.)
 
19. Rights Copyright and permissions Copyright 2014 Equinox Publishing Ltd